Over a one-year period during 2011 and ’12, some 6 million gallons of maple syrup — about $18 million worth — were stolen from the “strategic maple syrup reserve” controlled by the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers (FPAQ). The cartel’s syrup was taken from a St.-Louis-de-Blandford warehouse, which some clever thieves had access to because they just so happened to be renting another section of the same storage facility. Last week, three men were arrested in connection with the heist.

It may seem bizarre that Canada has a maple-syrup cartel at all. But think of it this way: Quebec, which produces about 77% of the world’s maple syrup, is the Saudi Arabia of the sweet, sticky stuff, and the FPAQ is its OPEC. The stated goal of the cartel, in this case, is keeping prices relatively stable.

The problem with maple syrup is that the natural supply of it varies dramatically from year to year. “It’s highly dependent on the weather,” explains Pascal Thériault, an agricultural economist at McGill University in Montreal.

Demand is also irregular, added the Post: “During recessions, many families cut way back on syrup purchases, since it’s not exactly essential.”

So since 1989, the FPAQ has modulated supply to keep prices stable, setting aside maple syrup in good years and releasing it in bad ones. Thériault says relatively little maple syrup was produced from 2005 through ’08. But from 2009 through ’12, the syrup flowed fast and sweet, filling warehouse with reserves and setting the stage for the maple-syrup heist.

Does the maple-syrup reserve keep prices artificially high? In good years, yes. A supply-management system like the one in Quebec will keep prices stable no matter what supply is like. But when Canada isn’t producing as much maple syrup, the cartel kept prices lower than would otherwise be the case.

The system seems to have helped producers, who would no doubt be the ones most heavily affected without the reserve, says Thériault. It’s a different story for consumers, who don’t get to take advantage of years of syrup surplus. Considering the stranglehold Quebec has on the global market, that’s not likely to change anytime soon.

Because Canada produces about 80% of the world’s supply of maple syrup. The United States produces the remaining 20% with Vermont controlling approximately 35% of all U.S. maple syrup production or distribution, or roughly 7% of the world’s maple supply.

I grew up on the Canadian Maple Syrup, being across the water from Canada. I love the stuff. I won't let my kids eat anything but the real stuff. No corn syrup garbage! We get ours at BJ's for about $12/US. We don't eat it often so it lasts us quite a while.

There is another factor involved in maple syrup pricing. The Canadian Government through the Canadian Forces pays a high fixed price to Quebec Producers. This is done for a few reasons. It is a way to funnel money to Quebec from other taxpayers, it was thought to calm separatist fools, but most of them have never been in the forest, except to avoid conscription, and in a strange way, allows other producers in Ontario to point to the Quebec price to get what they want. Even Costco is not immune to this price fixing. They sell maple syrup in Ontario for 12 dollars a litre, so maybe not as much absolute profit, but still a high price. I just go to a friend's farm and pay him cash, and that cash sale which never goes across the tax ledger is where the real savings can be found.

I’m a Canadian, and lived in Canada most of my life. Canada is the country of cartels; e.g., cellular services, Internet services, imported bicycles, cheese (the Quebec government granted an official price fixing status to milk producers), gasoline, universities, you name it.

Canada is one of the, if not the most non-competitive country in the world concerning consumer products, because local governments purposely reduced competition to save the jobs of some Canadian workers, creating severe market distortions. The Canadian Bureau of Competition is a joke.

I'm guessing maybe that's the raw value as it resides in the warehouse. Markup doesn't likely happen until the syrup is transported, passed through the hands of those in charge of branding and then ultimately ends up the retail environment, where you end up paying in excess of $60 to $70 per gallon. The money from the increased price goes to pay for the related delivery costs, i.e., fuel and driver wages, and other expenses along the way. For example, if you could pump gas directly into your car right at the refinery, that gas would probably cost you .35 cents per gallon.

.35 cents a gallon!! I think you may need some math classes. A bbl of oil is 42 gallons. So if the current price is $85/bbl, then a raw gallon of unrefined crude oil is about $2 per gallon. People really need to get educated about the oil industry, because many people probably believe something as silly as .35 censt a gallon at the refinery.

Well, you don't need to be arrogant about it. Math and economics were my weakestsubjects and I was not attempting to quote an actual dollar amount for gasproduction, delivery and sale, but I do see where my wording was offand could have been read that way. I was simply drawing a parallel in replyto the comment regarding the value of maple syrup being so much lower at thewarehouse vs. the store. I may stand corrected with my example, but I thinkcalling me silly is out of line, because that would be just as bad asmy highlighting the fact that you may need a Composition Lesson, asyou mispelled cents, plus when you type .35 you don't follow that with the wordcents, which is known as a redundancy in grammar, but I wouldn't point that outbecause that would be just plain silly!